West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday requested the central government to provide immediate relief to the common people who are suffering from the ever-increasing fuel prices.
Briefing the media, Mamata said, "Yesterday, in Karnataka (during Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's swearing-in), all opposition leaders discussed fuel price hike as it affects both common people and farmers. I request the government to provide relief to the people."
Further stressing on the issue, Mamata added that the hike has affected all household chores and transportation costs were also rising.
She urged the other opposition parties to come and protest against the rise in fuel prices.
"Our party (Trinamool Congress) will protest tomorrow (Friday) in Calcutta. We will protest in all block levels and district levels the day after (Saturday). I request all political parties to join us and protest against the fuel hike," Mamata added.
Asked why the Centre was "silent" on the crisis, Mamata asserted, "When others are in power, we criticise others. When a party is in power, they suddenly become silent and forget everything. I need to tell the Centre that politics is not for today, it's for tomorrow."
The West Bengal Chief Minister termed the skyrocketing of fuel prices as a people's issue and not do politics over it.
In recent days, petrol and diesel prices have surged to a record high, leaving the common man hassled. Currently, in Delhi, the petrol price is Rs. 77.47, while in Mumbai, it touched Rs 85.29 per litre.
Similarly, the diesel rates have also touched a high of Rs 68.53 and Rs 72.96 per litre in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.
Following the hike in fuel prices workers of various opposition parties including Congress, TMC, All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are staging protests in various parts of the country.
Later, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said that the reduced value of the Indian rupee in comparison to the US dollar was causing fuel price hike.
Analysts believe that the less production of oil in the OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and hike in crude oil price in the international market are some of the factors affecting the fuel price.
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